I did a little research this past week on the real estate market in Mt. Pleasant and learned a couple of interesting things about the Mt. Pleasant real estate market. In the local multiple Listing Service (MLS) Mt. Pleasant real estate is in two sections; properties south of Hwy 41, and properties north of Hwy 41.

The total number of homes listed for sale in all of Mt. Pleasant (both parts of MLS and both attached and detached homes) is 1159. This is a moving target, so the numbers will be different slightly this week. Of those homes listed there are 264 that are listed as contingent, meaning their under contract but area in the process of clearing those contingencies. Of these, some may not clear all contingencies and will return to the active status. The numbers show about 18.6% of the listed homes for sale in both sections of Mt. Pleasant are under contract.

A Mt. Pleasant detached home

Looking at the Median Prices provides some additional information that can be telling. For the area north of 41, the Median Price for all homes listed is $450,000, while the Median Price for the homes that are contingent is $315,000. A difference of $135,000 below the Median Price for all Listed detach homes. For homes listed in the south area below 41 the Median Price is $469,950, while the Median Price for the homes that are contingent is $372,500. A difference of $97,450 below the Median Price for all listed homes.

Attached homes have a lower Median Price, but show a similar trend. In the north area above 43, Median Price is $212,200 while the Median Price of contingent homes is $199,000. In the south area Median Prices for all listed homes is $229,945 while the Median Price for contingent homes is $156,500.

Some attached homes in Mt. Pleasant.

In all cases, the Median Prices show that the homes under contingencies have Median Prices well below the Median Price for all listed homes, both attached and detached. Since these homes are active contingent, the Median Price reflects the listed price at the time the home was classified as active contingent in MLS. The actual price paid is not reflected in any of these numbers.

The take away is that in this market, homes need to be price aggressively or buyers will look to properties that are! Buyers have more choices and will not look at homes that are not aggressively priced. A professional real estate agent knows the local market and is in the best position to help their clients price their homes competitively for that market.

We are professional Realtors and know the market in Mt. Pleasant. If you have questions about real estate in Mt. Pleasant, or you are looking for help buying your next home, or selling your current home, call us. If you know someone who may have questions, have them call us. Patricia can be reached on 843-425-0953. I can be reached on 843-364-9509. You can also sign-up for the most comprehensive Market Snapshot available at our website at www.MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com.

I’ve read a lot about the real estate market overall and got to thinking about the business of real estate. While the reports in the news are national trends and may highlight a few locations that prove the report, the seldom, if ever, report on the real estate market in Mt. Pleasant, SC. The real estate market in Mt. Pleasant is not the same as the real estate market in Charleston, or North Charleston. So I thought I’d take a snapshot of the last three months using homes above 2500sf, with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. I selected that size because many sections in the north part of Mt. Pleasant have covenants that set the minimum square footage that can be built. So this report is skewed to the north part of Mt. Pleasant. Here are the numbers:

Total

Highest

Lowest

Median

Sold Homes

61

$803,000

$155,000

$375,990

Homes For Sale

157

$2,499,000

$229,000

$375,000

The average selling price was 96% of the listing price at the time of sale. Of course, that is an important point…at the time of sales! The real estate industry looks at the age of a listing and represent this by the number of days a property has been listed for sale. That is important because it may show that a property was listed at a higher price when it was first listed. Some may have had several price reductions before finally selling. The 61 homes sold during the last three months had an average number of days on the market of 492! How likely would you be to accept and offer of 96% of your listed price if your home had been on the market for 492 days?

Which of these products would you buy?

There are a couple of things that we can take from this information. We are emotionally tied to our homes, ascribe value to that emotion and price our homes accordingly. I’ve done it and so have many other real estate professionals. It is a hard lesson to learn, but what was our home becomes a commodity when we list it for sale. It is a product at that point and needs to be priced to compete with comparable products. The 61 houses that sold were competing with the 157 that are also listed.

Listing your home is a business transaction. If you take the emotional part out of it, you have a product. Regardless of why you are selling your home, when you list it, it has the best opportunity to sell quickly if it is priced at or below the market, within the first month. After that first month it begins to age on the market. We know how to get homes sold and work as a team with our clients.

I was sitting down with my new financial advisor (FA) the other day discussing an annuity I had purchased from my previous FA. He explained to me what I should have known when I purchased the annuity 6 years ago. I remember saying to him, “I did not know that?” My previous FA did not explain the documents to me as my new FA was doing now. No matter, he (the previous FA) did give me a prospectus which explained everything I needed to know. There is a problem here that you may have experienced. Even if I had read the prospectus I likely would not have understood any better than by not reading it!

What should you know?

Real estate transactions are the same way. There is a lot of information you need to know. But buyers and sellers may be involved in 2 or 3 transactions in their life. Those transactions are probably separated by years and the laws governing real estate transactions can be difficult to understand when only handle 2 or 3 in your life. So it would be understandable if you said, “I did not know that?”

A professional Realtor® may handle 2 or 3 transaction a month, or maybe a week in some cases. A Realtor® is a professional required to take part in continuing education that keeps them up-to-date on the rules and regulations of the industry and the state. An experienced Realtor® will work closely with their client to make sure that their transaction is handled in accord with those rules and regulations. A Realtor® is trained to look out for your best interest.

My wife, Patricia, and I are Realtors®. Each year we take classes that keep us up-to-date on things we need to understand to better serve our clients. We work together with clients to understand their needs and their dreams. When we understand those things, we can put into place a plan to satisfy their needs and realize their dreams. We don’t hand our clients a stack of real estate rules and regulations and expect them to read them on their own. Our clients are important to us! We explain the way things work and what they need to do. We team up for success with every one of our clients.

Team UP for Success!

If you would like to know more about our approach to client service, call me or email me. My number is 843-364-9509, or my email is Mark@MarkandPatriciaFuchs.com. You can also visit our website and sign up for our FREE Market Snapshot to learn more about your real estate market.

When you are our clients, you should never have to say, “I did not know that?”